Selecting Laptop

lebab

Hello everybody. I am going to be an engineering student, which means the necessity of a laptop to be able to work on specific engineering programs. And i guess such usage requires certain laptop features and specifications. I have seen Toshiba Satellite P505-S8980 whose specs are as follow: 2.2 C2D/6GB RAM/ 500GB/BR/ CAM/ 18" and that is for about 800$.
I want to ask whether such specs are good for what I want to use it, and whether the price is good.
And I hope to find some replies containing some advices. Thank you.

Georges

First Impression:
- This is an outdated system to purchase (At least the CPU). Core 2 Duo will vanish soon.
- 18" ... Well, this thing must be heavy and definitely you don't need such an additional weight. Go for 13" or 15" laptops.

You might also want a fairly good graphic card. You might use it one day.

Hope that helps, and welcome to the forums. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Kassem

Yorgi wroteThis is an outdated system to purchase (At least the CPU). Core 2 Duo will vanish soon.

agreed.

Yorgi wrote18" ... Well, this thing must be heavy and definitely you don't need such an additional weight. Go for 13" or 15" laptops.

I believe he actually needs the 18" because he will most likely be using this laptop to work on 3ds Max and AutoCad. Screen size is very important for designing stuff.

Yorgi wroteYou might also want a fairly good graphic card. You might use it one day.

It depends on whether he's going to use 3D animations or the "Mental Ray" lighting engine in 3ds Max, so yeah you better get a good graphics card.

I would say, pay a little more and get a more recent laptop with an i3 or even an i5 processor, around 4-6GB DD3 RAM, any recent NVIDIA graphics card with 1GB memory and supports Pixel Shader 4.0.

J4D

lebab wroteHello everybody. I am going to be an engineering student, which means the necessity of a laptop to be able to work on specific engineering programs.

what type of engineer ?

babum

If you need to use 3d designing programs, I would really recommend you going for a Desktop computer instead of a laptop, as they have more horsepower while being cheaper.

Georges

babum wroteIf you need to use 3d designing programs, I would really recommend you going for a Desktop computer instead of a laptop, as they have more horsepower while being cheaper.

This is not always the case: How many times do you use 3d designing programs each day - Once, Twice, 4 times ? - And who said that laptops can't handle such programs very easily :P (even better than desktops)

Personally, I prefer laptops for their mobility.

babum

Im just saying you get more from a desktop for less price, but I understand your need for mobility, just that in my case laptop cpu is a huge bottleneck

lebab

jadberro wrotewhat type of engineer ?

Mechanical

lebab

Thank you all, I am getting good information from your replies!
And by the way, today I asked somebody he advised me to go with Toshiba 4GB DD2 RAM 320GB hard drive, 13" screen ( forgot the rest of the specs) for about 1400$

lebab

Anyone knows resellers for Dell products?!

nicoco

i advise you NOT to buy a 13" notebook with such specs. i believe it's nonsense to work with intense details on such a small screen. it's a nightmare to your eyes, trust me.
as for your P505, i recommend this laptop out of personal experience. i had this laptop working intense 3D renderings for 4 years before the motherboard gave its last flop. i now have a Qosmio 505, which currently ranks in the highest ranking laptops in the market.

i would suggest HP DV6 as well. Dell is highly reliable, don't get me wrong, but it's very industrial for me. I usually go for 3D renderings and on such premise are my recommendations.

Georges

nicoco wrotei would suggest HP DV6 as well. Dell is highly reliable, don't get me wrong, but it's very industrial for me. I usually go for 3D renderings and on such premise are my recommendations.

Stay away from Dell and HP especially HP's. I suffered to hell from a previously owned DV6 !

lebab

Here's a laptop i have seeing recently,
Toshiba Satellite A500-1F4
Processor: intel core i5-430M
clock speed: 2.26/2.53 turbo GHz
front side bus: 1,066MHz
2L cache: 3 MB
OS: Genuine W indows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit (pre-installed, Toshiba-HDD recovery)
sys.memory: 4,096 (2.048 + 2,048) MB expandable to 8 MB
DDR3 RAM (1,066 MHz)
hard disk: 320GB 5400rmp
Display: 16"
type: Toshiba TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with LED backlight and 16 : 9 aspect ratio
internal resolution : 1,366 x 768
Graphics: nvidia geforce gt 330M with CUDA tech
memory: 1,024MB dedicated VRAM total available graphics memory using TurboCache™ technology can be up to
2,299 MB with a 32-bit operating system and 3 GB system memory or 4,606 MB with a 64-bit operating system and 8 GB system
memory)
memory type: DDR3 video RAM
connected bus: PCI Express
Internal viedo modes: resolution 1,366 x 768
max. resolution : 2,048 x 1,536
max. refresh rate : 100 Hz
non-interlaced resolution with max. refresh rate : 1,920 x 1,200

Cost: 1,319$ with VAT

What about that?! Suits my needs?! What about the price?! Go with it?! please replies...

mmk92

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